Navigation

29th March 2016

Top Stories

Bespoke roadmaps for over 20 economic sectors in the works: Heng

The government will come up with bespoke plans for more than 20 economic sectors in Singapore to help them better meet the needs of the future economy, said Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat on Monday. These industry transformation roadmaps, as they are called, will help the sectors boost productivity levels, invest more heavily in skills, drive innovation and promote internationalisation.

Four key challenges confront Singapore in the next 50 years, Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam said yesterday. These are: balancing financial prudence with higher social spending, a rapidly ageing population that does not replace itself, competition from abroad and terrorism. Speaking to students at a forum in Nanyang Technological University, where he also answered questions on a range of issues, Mr Shanmugam outlined the "sobering reality" that the Government has in recent years been spending more than it collects.

Following a prolonged cool-off in buying interest in 2015, prices of completed condominium units and apartments rose 0.4 per cent in February, steadily following a 0.2 per cent increase in January. This was based on the latest flash estimates from the National University of Singapore (NUS) for its Singapore Residential Price Index (SRPI) series.

Hotel and property group Amara Holdings is understood to have picked up a freehold bungalow at 31 Newton Road for S$18.8 million or S$1,256 per square foot on land area of 14,966 sq ft. The group owns an abutting property, 29 Newton Road, which also has a freehold bungalow on site; its land area is 15,332 sq ft.

Prices of completed private apartments rose marginally for a second straight month in February, thanks to higher values in the central region, but experts are not reading too much into the numbers. Overall prices added 0.4 per cent last month after increasing 0.2 per cent in January, according to flash estimates from the NUS Singapore Residential Price Index (SRPI).

Companies in the food manufacturing industry will be able to tap new integrated facilities to increase operational efficiency next year. The JTC Food Hub @ Senoko will have 50 modular factory units of about 1,130 sq m each when it is completed in the second quarter of next year, it was announced at a signing ceremony yesterday.

Frasers Hospitality, the hospitality arm of mainboard-listed Frasers Centrepoint Limited, on Monday launched its third serviced residence in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. Located along Jalan Karbela Selatan, Fraser Place Setiabudi is a "gold-standard" serviced residence towering 31 storeys above the central business district of Jakarta's Golden Triangle - a triangular area of business and commercial establishments.

Keppel Corporation aims to make its property business the best performer in Asia, chief executive Loh Chin Hua said in the group's annual report released yesterday. "To be a leader in the property industry does not mean that we have to be the biggest player," noted Mr Loh.